Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will meet with a delegation of First Nations leaders to discuss treaty and aboriginal rights, and economic development.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will meet with First Nations leaders on Jan. 11.

By:Joanna SmithOttawa Bureau, Published on Fri Jan 04 2013

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper has offered to meet with a delegation of First Nations leaders to discuss treaty and aboriginal rights and economic development.

“I will be participating in a working meeting with a delegation of First Nations leaders co-ordinated by the Assembly of First Nations on Jan. 11,” Harper said in a statement Friday.

The statement was issued to the media minutes before aboriginal leaders were set to begin a news conference about the continuing hunger strike of Theresa Spence, chief of the struggling Cree community of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario.

The prime minister has been under mounting pressure to sit down with First Nation leaders as the result of a nationwide protest movement known as Idle No More, which gathered more steam when Spence began her hunger strike on Victoria Island, in the Ottawa River, on Dec. 11.

Danny Metatawabin, a close supporter and spokesman for Spence, said he started to cry when he heard the news of the proposed meeting Friday morning.

“Tears started to come down my eyes and I had to hold off my tears because I wanted to share my tears with Chief Theresa and all the helpers that came to support her,” Metatawabin said at a news conference in Ottawa.

“It’s a small step of a very big process that we have to go through to rebuild that nation-to-nation relationship.”

Metatawabin and others said that Spence, who is in good spirits but showing “signs of fatigue,” will continue her hunger strike until the Jan. 11 meeting actually takes place.

They suggested this would be enough to satisfy the demand Spence has made to meet Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston to discuss issues facing First Nations people, but noted the meeting could not be the end of the road.

“It will not take just one meeting to fix that relationship that has been broken or that is broken,” said Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

“We will continue to hold the prime minister’s feet to the fire to ensure that meeting, if it does happen next Friday, will begin to establish that process. But the issues that we have are many and it will take a very constructive and a very meaningful process to repair the damage to that relationships and begin to address the issues that Chief Spence and others have brought forward,” Fiddler said at the news conference.

“This isn’t going to work as a simple photo op … I think we’ve reached a tipping point and now it’s time to start repairing that relationship,” said New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay).

In Oakville, Harper avoided mentioning Spence or the Idle No More movement by name as he described the Jan. 11 meeting as part of an ongoing dialogue with the Assembly of First Nations and its National Chief Shawn Atleo that grew out of the historic Crown-First Nations gathering in Ottawa last January.

“We arrived at work plan on a number of things we want to see move forward, obviously, these are long-term challenges but we are committed to addressing them. I met with National Chief Atleo in November about setting up future meetings to follow progress and ensure we are making more progress on all of the items and so we’re following up on that and so the Assembly of First Nations will determine the composition of their own delegation,” Harper said.

Harper also urged protesters to obey the law.

“My only comment in terms of ... various protests and demonstrations is the following: in this country, people have the right in our country to demonstrate and express their points of view peacefully, as long as they obey the law. But I think the Canadian population expects everyone will obey the law in holding such protests,” Harper said Friday in Oakville, where he made an announcement regarding an automotive innovation fund.

Empowering success of individuals through access to education and opportunity;

Enabling strong, sustainable, and self-sufficient communities;

Creating conditions to accelerate economic development opportunities and maximize benefits for all Canadians;

Respecting the role of First Nations’ culture and language in our history and future.

Harper’s announcement Friday of the Jan. 11 meeting came as New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay), National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Shawn Atleo and other native leaders were holding a news conference to discuss Spence’s hunger strike.

Meanwhile, members of the Kingsclear First Nation are staging an Idle No More protest along a busy highway near Fredericton, N.B. and say they’ll stay until the prime minister meets with Spence.

About three dozen people stood along Highway 102 at Kingsclear on Friday holding signs in opposition to the federal government’s recently passed omnibus budget legislation, Bill C45.

Kingsclear Chief Gabriel Atwin says it’s important that Harper respects treaty rights and meets with Spence right away because she is now into day 25 of a hunger strike.

First Nations leaders had initially proposed a Jan. 24 meeting with Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnson, but Spence said her failing health means she can’t wait that long for assurances that her concerns about treaty rights will be addressed.

With files from The Canadian Press

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